Ford Hosts ‘Electrifying’ Boston Dinner

Eighteen NEMPA members and Ford staffers gathered at the Venezia Restaurant on the Boston waterfront on August 16 for an informal evening with Eric Kuehn, chief engineer for Ford’s Global Electrified Programs.

Kuehn, an electrical engineer who also holds an MBA, is a 26-year veteran at Ford, where his portfolio includes the highly successful line of Ecoboost powertrains. He was in New England to make a presentation to the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation and other interested parties at Boston Greenfest’s Green Business Breakfast on August 17. Kuehn’s group is launching six electrified vehicles into the US market in 2013—two C-MAX models (a plug-in hybrid and a hybrid) and two new Fusion hybrids, one also a plug-in, alongside the new faster-recharging, 110MPGe Focus Electric with its smaller, lighter and more efficient liquid-cooled powerpack. The team will also launch the new 2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.

Kuehn let his dinner grow cold while he answered questions on topics ranging from Euro-style, three-cylinder diesels versus gas-electric hybrids to the proliferation of EV charging stations. In turn, he grilled NEMPA members about the New England driving environment and culture.

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The New England Motor Press Association was founded in 1987 to coordinate professional media coverage of the auto industry in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, whose 14.5 million citizens have unique demographics and automotive preferences. Membership in NEMPA is by invitation and open to carmakers and their public-relations and communications staffs, suppliers to the automotive industry, and trade and consumer auto show producers as well as to automotive journalists and photographers. NEMPA’s media members appear on network and cable TV, on the Internet and radio, and in regional and national newspapers and magazines.